NORWOOD – What was intended to be an afternoon of family fun at the Launch Trampoline Park turned into a chaotic scene that required a heavy police presence and multiple reports of injuries.
At approximately 5:07 PM on December 30th, Norwood Police were dispatched to the 570 Boston-Providence Highway entertainment center following reports of two women engaged in a physical fight.
According to the caller aided dispatch (CAD) the reporting person told the dispatcher “Adults and children fighting” and one of the subjects involved had a bloody eye.
As police responded, dispatch told officers that one of the involved parties was attempting to flee in a red Jeep-style vehicle. An officer intercepted the vehicle in the parking lot and initiated a traffic stop.
Inside the vehicle, police identified the driver and four children. According to the police report the driver said the trouble began inside the park when her child was allegedly targeted by another juvenile. The mother claimed a verbal dispute over a ball being thrown escalated quickly, resulting in her child being punched in the head and face, police say.
The mother told officers that when she attempted to address the issue with the other parent, the situation turned physical. She told officers the other woman “stepped to” her, leading to a physical struggle where she was bitten on the fingers during the altercation. She says she suffered the loss of two nail extensions (on her left index and right ring fingers) during the scuffle according to the police report.
Officers noted that both the mother and the child sustained minor injuries, including cuts to the child’s face.
Inside the trampoline park, officers interviewed the second woman. Her account of the “swinging” differed, claiming the first mother was the aggressor and threw punches first. Police noted in their report she suffered minor facial bruising.
She declined to press charges at the scene, however she later visited the Norwood Police Headquarters to reverse that decision.
Under Massachusetts law, because the alleged battery did not occur in the presence of the officers, no immediate arrests were made. However, police have provided both parties with the necessary procedures to seek their own criminal complaints through the court system.
Norwood Police declined to release the names of either person involved, and It is unknown at this time if either will be charged with a crime. -RD
